Love and Philosophy in a Shotglass
by Touch of Grey
Summary: Eddie had pretty much always figured himself to be a straight-shooting sort of guy. That is, until he met Zachary Zatara. Underage drinking, slash, and crazy a Zatanna fangirling OC inside. Rated for the hintings of SEEEEEX.


"Hello! I'm Ko Takabi. People call me The Maker because I conjure things with my magic flute. Who are you and what can you do?"

It was a question I'd been hearing all day, however, Ko seemed genuinely interested in what I could do, not just gauging the competition. I smiled at the short, slightly round girl.

"I'm Eddie Bloomberg. I don't really have any powers, but I was Blue Devil's sidekick." She smiles back at me and I try to keep my eyes on hers. She smiles wider.

"Impressive! Most people flinch when I smile and stare like that! I like you, Eddie! Let's be friends!" and so, we were.

That first day at the Teen Titan tryouts was pretty rough, but it was nice having someone to talk to. Ko was a great listener, but she was also one of the most long-winded talkers I'd ever met. In two short, yet gruelingly long, hours, I'd learned that she was from Korea, she liked all sorts of magic, even fake stuff from dollar magicians, she'd found her flute on an archeological dig and learned that it conjured whatever she wished after a dozen sausage pizzas fell onto her bed the first time she played it, and that she had the biggest idol-worship crush on Zatanna that the world has ever seen.

"She's just so _cool_!" Ko was sighing for the umpteenth time, when a new face walked into the room. In the past 22 hours, I'd seen everything from a guy in a glass box, claiming he could control it at will, to a girl who was half naked and said that her skin was acidic to anything that touched it. But this new face, this boy, was nothing like any of the other posers in this room; this guy had class.

He was dressed in a tuxedo, a nice one at that, gloves, even a hat. I was going to point him out to Ko, but she spotted him first.

"Ohhhh!" she whispered, clutching my arm and practically wetting herself with glee. "It's Zatanna's cousin, Zatara!" not really thinking, I waved at him, and he came over.

"Do I know you?" he asked, almost immediately upon reaching speaking range. I'd had a snappy comeback, but it sort of died. Far away, this Zatara was a pretty good-looking guy. Up close…he was some sort of god.

Short, dark wavy hair, beautiful brown eyes, and the fullest, most amazing pair of lips I'd ever seen on a human being…oh yeah. I was in love.

"No. Er, I'm no. Er, I'm Eddie! She's Ko. Hi." I fumbled my way through our first conversation, then another and another, and by the end of the day, neither Ko nor I were Titans, but Zat was, so we made plans to go out for a celebratory lunch/dinner. Unfortunately, Ko never made it to that meal.

As we were leaving, a woman dressed completely in dark purple showed up and started screaming at her to go home that instant. Turns out that Ko is actually Kodako Takabi, heiress to one of the largest shipping industries in all of Asia. But she wished us well and gave us her phone number, and I've seen her a little over a dozen times since then, but that's not relevant to _this_ particular story.

Zatara and I ended up hanging out a lot, even after my magical demon-spawned transformation into devil boy, but you really couldn't call us best friends. Fact of the matter was, I still had a huge crush on him, and I was pretty sure he knew it.

Only thing was, he didn't.

We were either at a dance club or a rave, I'm not sure which, but the music was pumping, people were dancing, and I don't know what had been in that lemonade, but I _liked_ it. It made me want to start dancing. So, I did.

But it isn't fun to dance alone.

"C'mon, Zat! Live a little!" I was laughing for no reason at all, and Zat's hand felt even warmer than mine, and the throbbing bass line had started to sound really sexy all of a sudden and I really, really, _really_ wanted Zat to dance with me. "Don't be a chicken, Zat! Lets dance!"

"I don't dance with drunks." He'd said stubbornly. I laughed.

"I'm not drunk! All I've had was lemonade!"

"You smell like a seedy bar in the pits of hell. Let go of me- put me down _now_, Eddie!" Zat doesn't like being spun around. It makes his face flush. Cute.

"Dance with me." Zatara glared weakly at me.

"One dance, then I get to cart your drunk butt back to the tower, got it?" I nod, practically walking on air. Zat's gonna dance with me! We get onto the floor in the middle of a Panic! At the Disco number I really like, and start to dance.

Let's get these teen hearts beating  
Faster, faster.

So, testosterone boys and harlequin girls:  
Will you dance to this beat, and hold a lover close?

Let's get these teen hearts beating faster, faster.  
Let's get these teen hearts beating faster.

I've got more wit, a better kiss, a hotter touch, a better fuck  
Than any boy you'll ever meet. Sweetie you had me.  
Girl, I was it. Look past the sweat, a better love deserving of  
Exchanging body heat in the passenger seat.  
No, no, you know, it will always just be me.

Let's get these teen hearts beating  
Faster, faster!

My arms, his legs, our hips our breath, by the end of the song, I honestly can't figure out where I end and he begins. I clumsily brush my lips against his cheek and he stares at me in shock, and then we're kissing and groping and Zat tastes like all the good things in the world times twelve. There's a hazy period in my memory between the time we left the club/rave/thing and the time we ended up sprawled on Zat's living room floor, but to tell you the truth, it doesn't matter. All I need to remember is how pale Zat's chest really is and how sweet the skin of his neck tastes and the tangy smell of our sweat in the air and what he sounded like as I made love to him on the living room floor with the front door partially open because we were too far-gone to care enough to close it. If I never remember anything again, if I lose all of my other memories, as long as the sight of Zatara grinning and pushing a dark, sweaty lock of hair out of his eyes the next morning when we woke up (in the bedroom, of all places! Can't say I remember getting there.)stays with me, I'll still be happy.

And today, as I move the only box of stuff I own into Zat's too-big-for-one-person apartment, I have to grin.

Neron be damned. You can't have me _or_ my soul.

Both those things already have an owner, and his name is Zachary Zatara.


End file.
